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After a long wait, Coney Island’s famed Totonno’s Pizzeria, 1524 Neptune Avenue, is expected to reopen in the next two weeks.

The neighborhood staple near West 15th Street was damaged in a fire in the spring.

Totonno’s Pizzeria has been delighting pizza lovers for decades, ever since Anthony “Totonno” Pero opened his store in 1924. Today, Totonno’s is the oldest continuously operating pizzeria in the U.S.

The re-opening was announced at Community Board 13. The delighted board cheered the news.

“I guess you can have Thanksgiving turkey in the greatest pizzeria in the city,” said Chuck Reichenthal, Community Board 13 District Manager.

For information about the exact re-opening date, contact the restaurant at (718) 372-8606.

F train review

The F train may be causing headaches at every stop, but there could be light at the end of the tunnel.

At the behest of Brooklyn Heights State Senator Daniel Squadron, MTA officials conducted a full F line review regarding ongoing service problems.

The authority is going to talk about their findings at a special town hall meeting on Thursday, December 10, at PS 58, 330 Smith Street (corner of Carroll Streets, just paces from the Carroll Street station) at 6:30 p.m.

MTA officials gave Community Board 6’s Transportation Committee a quick overview of their findings during a meeting on November 19.

Evaluators gave the F train a “below average” rating because of the ongoing reconstruction of the Culver Viaduct – the elevated train line between Carroll Street and Seventh Avenue – as well as other much needed upgrades to a subway line where some equipment dates back to the 1940s.

While MTA officials promised that there will be no more weekend disruptions until 2010, they also said that the possibility of an F express train won’t materialize for four to five years, after all of the work is expected to be completed.

Hungry?

Hopefully so, since the Bay Ridge Food Co-op hopes to open soon.

“We have submitted several new grant applications and have been notified by one organization, the Brooklyn Community Foundation, that our Letter of Inquiry has been favorably received. We have been invited to submit a full application,” the team behind the co-op says.

But there’s still work to be done.

“The new year brings us new opportunities to get the word out about the BRFC,” the team says. “We need to increase our membership base. When our membership increases, we will have more of a financial base to search for a location and sign a lease.”

The residents behind the co-op say “hundreds of people” have expressed interest in joining.

Efforts are afoot to honor the late Rosemarie O’Keefe at a garden attached to Calvary Hospital’s Brooklyn satellite located at Lutheran Medical Center.

O’Keefe, a longtime Bay Ridge activist who served as the commissioner of the mayor’s Community Assistance Unit under former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, died in July at the Calvary satellite at Lutheran after a two-and-a-half-year battle with cancer.

That is one reason why the Alliance of Bay Ridge Block Associations, which O’Keefe helped to found, has begun a campaign – in partnership with Calvary Hospital and the Calvary Fund — to raise money to restore the patio garden at Calvary and name it for O’Keefe.

“Rosemarie O’Keefe started as Bay Ridge’s special treasure and became a gift to all of New York City,” noted members of the Alliance in a letter announcing the campaign.

The garden, according to the Alliance, is “one of the most used locations” in the 25-bed Calvary satellite, but, after eight years of use, is “in need of new furniture, flowers and plants.” Once the garden’s restoration is complete, it will be dedicated to O’Keefe.

Those interested in contributing to the effort can make a donation by check or credit card. Checks made out to Calvary Fund, Inc. (with a note in the memo indicating “The Rosemarie O’Keefe Fund”) should be sent to Vincent J. Spinelli, executive vice president, Calvary Fund of Calvary Hospital, 1740 Eastchester Road, Bronx, NY 10461. Credit card donations can be made by calling 717-518-2077, with the caller indicating that the donation is for the Rosemarie O’Keefe Fund.

For further information, call 718-518-2073 or email vspinelli@calvaryhospital.org.

Where’s the beef?

The Turkish Cultural Center of Brooklyn along with the Universal Foundation and Helping Hands Relief Foundation teamed with Borough President Marty Markowitz last week to distribute 700 pounds of packaged beef to food pantries and soup kitchens throughout the borough.

The meat drive is dedicated to the Feast of Sacrifice (Eid ul Adha), a holiday that honors Abraham for giving up his beloved son in exchange for a ram as an act of obedience and devotion to God.

Muslims observe Eid ul Adha by sacrificing animals such as cows, sheep and goats, and are obliged to distribute two-thirds of the meat to people in need.

Global warming you can see

Fed up with government inaction on climate change, Green Party members in Park Slope are inviting their neighbors to join them in an innovative action of their own this week.

Residents are being asked to create homemade “ice globes” and bring them to the corner of 3rd Street and Fifth Avenue on December 6 for a 3 p.m. vigil.

The melting globes will then be used to demonstrate how little the Obama administration is actually doing to address the issue of global warming.

You can log onto gpbk.org to find out how to make your own ice globe.

The president is due to attend the December 9 climate warming talks in Copenhagen en route to picking up his Nobel Peace Prize.

Critics say that despite being 5 percent of the world’s population, the U.S. is actually responsible for 30 percent of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Teacher shaves kid’s head

Yep, that’s right.

Thomas MacDonald, an English teacher at M.S. 577 at 208 North Fifth Street in Williamsburg, promised students he’d shave his head if they raised money to fight breast cancer. The eighth-graders were successful in their efforts, collecting $2,700 by selling lollipops and hosting a movie day. So, MacDonald’s shiny brown locks had to go.

“It happened as a spur of the moment, impulse action,” Feinberg said. “My hair was gone. It was a big price, but at least I had a choice. For people with cancer, the choice is a matter of life or death, not just hair or no hair.”

No word on how his parents reacted.

DWI legislation to take effect in time for the holidays

When drivers in Brooklyn leave their holiday parties this winter, they should keep in mind new legislation passed by the State Assembly and refrain from getting behind the wheel after consuming too much alcohol.

The Assembly’s legislation requires that those convicted of a new misdemeanor or felony DWI must have ignition interlock devices installed, breathalyzers tied to a car’s ignition system, to prevent drunk drivers from starting their cars. The law also creates more severe penalties for those who drive drunk with a child passenger, such as a possible prison sentence of up to 1 1/3 to 4 years and fines as high as $5,000 if a driver’s blood alcohol content is 0.08 or higher.

In Brooklyn, DWI rates have increased 1.6 percent last year, compared with 2007, while DWI rates dropped 3.4 percent citywide in the same period.

“Drunk driving is an incredibly reckless and dangerous crime, made all the more senseless and heinous when a child’s life is on the line,” said Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, who represents Fort Greene, Greenpoint, Williamsburg. “This multi-pronged measure will make drunk drivers think twice before climbing behind the wheel with a child passenger, and harshly punish those who do so.”

New legislation may make child asthmatics breathe easier

In the middle of an epic debate on health care reform, Senator Kirstin Gillibrand (D-New York) is introducing new legislation that will help schools develop asthma management plans and put more inhalers in school to every child in need.

The Asthma in Schools Act, includes an allocation of $100 million to develop a comprehensive way to manage asthma in school, train more asthma educators, and invest more resources into asthma research and data collection.

In Brooklyn, hospitalizations related to asthmatic incidents dropped 16.4 percent from 2004 to 2007 to a rate of 4.6 per 1,000, though hospital visits remain high in Williamsburg and Bushwick where the rate is double that (9.3), East Flatbush (6.2), Crown Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant (8.8) and East New York (8.0). According to estimates by Senator Gillibrand’s office, more than 370,000 children suffer from asthma statewide.

“All New York children deserve the opportunity to grow up strong, healthy and successful. But too many of our children suffering with asthma do not have access to inhalers and other kinds of care they need,” said Senator Gillibrand, who noted that her own child suffers from asthma. “We have a moral obligation to the children of this state to ensure their health and well-being.”

Sweet!

New salon open in Red Hook: Suite Hair Boutique and Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation (SBIDC) announced this week the grand opening of the new salon, located at 352 Van Brunt Street.

After 23 years working for a number of high-end salons, Nayda Ortiz is excited to be a first-time business owner.

“There have been a lot of emotional ups and downs this past year,” she said, “but it’s been an extraordinary experience and I’m thrilled to be a part of the Red Hook community.”

Ortiz began looking for a suitable space in October 2008 and found the location at 352 Van Brunt the following month. Initially her plan was to repaint and refinish the floors but an architect friend proposed more extensive renovations.

Not sure how she could afford them, she mentioned her challenge to a fellow Red Hook retailer who directed her to SBIDC, a business advocacy group that ultimately helped him secure a grant from the state’s Main Street Program, an initiative funded by the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, that offers resources to businesses for a variety of improvements.

The grand opening will be held on Dec. 6 from 1 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., and will feature free consultations as well as a DJ and light hors d-oeuvres.

To learn more about how to apply for a New York Main Street Grant, contact Elizabeth Demetriou at SBIDC, 718-965-3100 x104.

Find your next pooch online

Greenpoint-based Dog Habitat Rescue recently joined other animal welfare organizations in the area that list their homeless pets on Petfinder.com, the oldest and largest database of adoptable animals on the Internet.

The site currently has over 320,000 homeless pets listed, on the site, which features listings from 13,000 animal welfare organizations in the United States, Canada, and other countries.

A potential adopter enters search criteria for the kind of pet he or she wants, and a list is returned that ranks the pets in proximity to the zip code entered. Adoptions are handled by the animal placement group where the pet is housed, and each group has its own policies.